Second Sight

Title: Second Sight
Author: MakaiKitty
Rating: NC-17 (overall)
Category: Original Fantasy, "Strings of Fate" storyline, Direct sequel to "Perceived Perceptions", An Eye of the Beholder Book
Pairing: Liam/Jasim, Tamall/Danne, Others
Warnings: Slash, M/M, Anal, Oral, Daemon Sex, Blood-play, BDSM, Violence, Mentions of past child abuse, Angst, Language, Death
Distribution: My website, My LJ and any LJs I choose to post at, AFF.net, and FicWad. All of my accounts are under the user name MakaiKitty. If you'd like to use it just let me know.
Disclaimer: The characters, daemon realms, and situations in this story are all original and belong solely to MakaiKitty. Please don't steal, borrow, take, or otherwise use anything from my fics.
Updates: Just join my YahooGroup to be informed of any updates to this or any of my other fics - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/makaikittyfics
Status: Work In Progress/Novel Length

Author's Notes: Sorry for the long time in between updates. I was sick, moved to a new apartment, and my dad went in (and out) of the hospital. I've been, needless to say, busy. But, here's an update for you. Finally. Remember, this is a work in progress, so this isn't really the finished product, but I thought you guys might enjoy seeing where I'm going with this. Enjoy! And, as always, be sure to let me know what yout think.

Second Sight
Book II in the Eye of the Beholder Series

Chapter Seven: Ghosts of the Sea

“Funny,” Jasim looked from Liam to his father and back again, “he doesn’t look like a king to me.”

“And why would a king waste his time coming all the way here just to fetch a worthless little whore like you?” Lord Tournkin’s voice was a low rumbling growl, somehow having more impact for the lack of shouting, although no one would have mistaken his feelings for anything short of murderous fury no matter the volume. “Get dressed and meet us in the audience room. You’re late.”

Lord Tournkin dismissed his son after these words, turning on his heal and heading back the way that they had come. Liam, however, could not move. He could only stare at the boy before him and repeat over and over again in his head, it’s not him. It can’t be. He’s gone. But there was something so hauntingly familiar about the green skinned boy who knelt on the bed in the center of the room, something impossibly unreal, that Liam refused to let his eyes leave the daemon, lest he disappear like the ghost that he recalled. They don’t even look that much alike, it’s just a strange coincidence, he told himself, although in the end the words did little to calm Liam’s rapidly racing mind.

“Pay him no heed,” Sammir laid a hand upon Liam’s shoulder, for all the world looking like a kind friend offering solace, even though he was secretly pleased by the unsettled look that the terkarian wore on his face, “This is, unfortunately, par for the course with Jasim. For the most part, however, it is simply a ploy to gain his father’s attention. I am certain that your king will not find him quite as troubling as we have of late.”

His touch had broken the spell that he had fallen under, and when Sammir turned and followed after his master Liam was actually glad to go with him. He could not stomach the unwavering gaze of clear blue eyes, the smirk that Jasim still wore ultimately proving to be too much for him. Liam realized, far too late, that he was in over his head. He never should have let himself volunteer to go to Paaragora. Not with the ghosts that still haunted the deepest recesses of his mind, that still held sway within his heart, ghosts that still dominated his nightmares as well as his dreams.

Jasim simply smiled, watching the three men, followed by the guards, leave. Then he watched his lovers slink out of the room, grateful to have been forgotten in the commotion by the high lord. It was only after he was alone that his smile fell. His body slumped down upon the mattress with a weary sigh and he lay with unblinking eyes looking up at the ceiling, wondering if he should laugh or cry. In the end, he did both. Then he dressed. He was, after all, already late to meet his fate.

***
The rest of his first day in Paaragora passed in a haze for Liam. He received a half-hearted apology from Lord Tournkin, his words curt and somehow insincere despite some very honest anger, Sammir assured him once again that Jasim would behave differently once he was away from their island, Jasim had remained blessedly silent even as he stared intently at Liam the entire time that they were in the audience room together, and then he had been released to his own devices. Liam hadn’t known what to do with himself, having no other business in Paaragora, and so he had returned to his guest room to wait out the day and prepare himself for the feast that he would be forced to attend that evening. With nothing else to do he had taken up the provided bottle of sankana, a local wine that had once been a very popular import to Trovilla, that he found waiting for him in a cabinet in his sitting room, even though he had given up such vices many moons ago. The situation seemed, however, somehow appropriate and by the time that a guard came to fetch him for dinner he was, if nothing else, calmer for his indulgence.

Then dinner began and Liam declined to pass up any drink put in front of him. Between Lord Tournkin’s snide comments and petty digs towards everyone from his courtiers, to his people, to his own son, Sammir’s obnoxious voice constantly agreeing with anything and everything that his master said, and the continual flirtations from Jasim, Liam was willing to forgive himself his lapse in judgment. He had forbidden himself strong sprits for a reason, long ago, but he had suspected that Paaragora might just be the thing to break his fast. By the time that desert came and Jasim at last made his move, waiting until his father was immersed in an argument with another lord to leave his seat and move to Liam’s side, Liam was able to smile at the younger man without forcing the gesture. He shrugged easily, body loose and at ease, when Jasim asked if he could sit beside him, and he suddenly couldn’t quite remember why he had been avoiding the attractive young daemon all day. Nor did he care.

“I hope that I didn’t offend you earlier with my little show?” Jasim fixed Liam with sparking blue eyes that screamed of mischief, “I didn’t realize that Daddy would actually bring outsiders in with him when he came to get me.”

“Not at all,” Liam admitted, too tired and too pleasantly inebriated to lie. Offended was not the word that he would use to describe how he had felt, not when there were so many other words that would fit so much better. “I saw King Samuel do things that would make your pretty little head spin, I can promise you that. You’ve got a lot to learn if you want to shock me.”

“Well,” Jasim scooted his chair a bit closer to Liam, pleased to see that the older man didn’t even try to move away. “If I didn’t offend you, then perhaps I did something else to you?”

Liam raised one plum-dark eyebrow, knowing where Jasim was going but not willing to stop him. He really was quite pretty, and the show would have been quite arousing had he not been so shocked, although he still couldn’t remember why he had been so upset by the display. He’d forgotten how poor his memory became when he drank, how befuddled his normally sharp mind could get, and he sank further down into his chair, slumping more than he normally would have allowed himself to do, a slight frown on his face as he tried to remember what was wrong with Paaragora and its noble households. He was certain that he had been avoiding the boy beside him earlier in the day for some reason.

Jasim leaned closer to Liam, brushing back a few stray locks of hair as he moved in to whisper into a pointed ear, “Did you like what you saw?”

“Perhaps.”

Jasim pulled back a bit and looked at Liam with a critical gaze, then towards his father and Sammir, eventually nodding his head as though agreeing with something that had not been said, obviously coming to some sort of conclusion all on his own. Although, what the question was, or where he had found his answer, was a mystery to Liam. “You’re not like the guards that my father keeps around, are you?”

“Is that a good thing,” Liam asked, not having really had the time or the opportunity to come to any conclusions about his Paaragorian counterparts. “The two that you’d picked out certainly seemed strong enough. Very fit.”

“They’re fit alright,” Jasim agreed, “Gives them a good amount of stamina too, for what it’s worth. But I asked around about you today. The servants told me how you talked to our high lord. Daddy doesn’t like for the help to talk back, doesn’t like to be questioned. So he tends to keep a certain type of man around him. He tends to lean towards the big, dumb, and silent sort. We’ve both found that they obey better than the smarter ones.”

“Then you’re about a year too late to be flirting with me, little fish,” Liam was a little reluctant to admit to such a thing, wondering if it would mean the end of whatever was going on between himself and the handsome young makara. Jasim had kept his cup full while they talked, and as a result Liam had completely forgotten that he’d ever been disturbed by the boy’s attentions. In fact, he was quite enjoying them. But it was not, his pride told him in a demanding inner voice, worth playing the fool for a spoiled nobleman’s son. “You’ll have to stick to your father’s men if you’re looking for an obedient dog. I gave up that way of life a while back, and I will never take a collar and muzzle ever again, no matter the rewards for healing upon command.”

“I wasn’t looking to put you on a leash, I’ve had quite enough of that the past few years,” with a wicked glint in his deep blue eyes, Jasim once again leaned in close to Liam and whispered, a giggle coloring his words, “Although, if such is your pleasure, I’d be more than happy to wear mine for you.”

Liam chocked on the mouthful of wine that he’d just swallowed, but he did his best to cover for his slip with a feigned cough as he fought for breath. Jasim’s soft laughter said clearly that he had not succeeded in masking his response. But it had, of course, most likely been the entire reason for such a provocative suggestion in the first place. Liam told himself that he would have to keep a close eye on Jasim Tournkin, son of the high lord of Paaragora, on the journey home. Although he doubted that he’d remember to take his own advice once his muddled mind cleared of its current haze. That, however, was a problem for the morning.

“If you do not wish another pet,” Liam said when he’d sufficiently recovered, keeping his voice low as a servant passed them by, refilling his glass yet again. “Then what do you want, boy?”

Jasim didn’t hesitate. He threw back his head and downed the last of the wine in his own glass, licking his lips suggestively to capture the last droplets of the dark liquid, before standing up and pushing back from the table. He placed a hand on Liam’s shoulder as he passed him, dewy lips skimming the sensitive point of a pale terkarian ear, before striding purposefully out of the dinning hall with many an eye upon the sight of his swaying hips and smirking countenance.

His answer to Liam had been a simple one. One that left very little room for misinterpretation.

“What do I want,” he had asked, almost innocently, “I want you to meet me in your rooms in twenty minutes. That’s what I want.”

After one more glass of the strong wine that was continually filling his cup Liam was more than happy to obey. If that made him a willing dog, if that made his earlier talk of pride and change a lie, then he was beyond caring. Just this once, he would heel, he would accept the collar. Or perhaps he was meant to hold the leash? He wasn’t really certain.

Twenty minutes after Jasim’s exit, twenty minutes spent covertly watching the clock on the wall and sipping at yet more wine, Liam made his excuses and left for his rooms. He suspected that everyone in the room knew where he was going, and why, but that was unimportant at the moment. He was enjoying Paaragora more than he had ever expected that he could, and for that his pride could remain silent, and to hell with anyone who though otherwise.

***
“Certainly took you long enough.”

Liam might have been offended by the comment since he was, after all, entering the room at twenty-one minutes to the second after Jasim had left the dinning hall, but with the vision that awaited him on his borrowed bed he could not find the words to argue. Jasim was lean but obviously possessed the natural strength of his people, his pale sea-green skin covering a well defined musculature that the warrior within Liam appreciated. He looked fully makara at first, his nude body completely hairless, his fingers and toes held close by a slight webbing, his ears small and pointed and his large eyes dominated by elliptical pupils, but there was something altogether too real about him to pass for the ethereal quality of the makara. Not that Liam found such to be disagreeable, as he looked into hungry eyes that were the brightest blue that he had ever seen. He could care less about the boy’s breeding, his body crying out for him to take what was obviously being offered, his befuddled mind trying half-heartedly to remember the last time that he had wanted anything so badly.

“Beautiful,” it was not eloquent, and in a fitter state of mind Liam might have cringed at his tongue-tied nature, but Jasim didn’t seem fazed by the brief utterance. They obviously weren’t meeting for an endearment-filled lover’s evening, and Jasim only smiled a come-hither smile and waited silently at the head of the bed.

He understood what was expected of him, and before he had reached the bed Liam was nude to the waist, his boots hastily discarded into a darkened corner, his coordination thankfully intact for the most part. His leather trousers felt tighter than they had an hour earlier, so those too were quickly removed, leaving him standing completely nude at the side of the bed. He had never known the meaning of the word shy, having nothing to be ashamed of in a body that was honed by hours of training and a terkarian’s natural physiology, muscles hard and well defined, pale skin contrasting with the darker pink of erect nipples and a proud cock that was already starting to leak with excitement. It had been months since he’d been with anyone, and even that had been a hurried and ultimately unsatisfying encounter, so his body was more than ready to slake its needs with the beauty that was before him. And, if the look that he was receiving from Jasim was to be any indication, Jasim was ready as well.

“I think that I’m going to like Trovilla,” Jasim broke the silence between them. “In fact, I think that I already do.”

Liam growled as he watched full lips, soft green and enticingly moist, form the words. He wasn’t really listening anymore, the haze of inebriation having taken his mind once again, so instead of answering Liam closed the distance between them and climbed onto the bed, not stopping until he was hovering above Jasim on his hands and knees, mere inches separating him from what he wanted most at that moment. He lowered is head slowly, intending to taste the lips that had so captivated him, but at the last minute Jasim turned his head to the side and Liam ended up tasting the smooth skin of Jasim’s jaw, trailing his lips and tongue down along a graceful neck, stopping to nibble at the juncture between neck and shoulder. He understood the message, and although he wanted to taste those lips, he was willing to be distracted by the bounty of other treats that the younger daemon had to offer. And of those, there were many.

Jasim arched, a soft moan falling from his lips as first one dark green nipple, and then the other, was suckled by a needy mouth, his hands rising to pull his partner down onto him more fully, craving the heat of another body. He was delighted by the fact that his father was sure to know where he was and what, or rather who, he was doing, but the strong soldier with whom he was currently sharing a bed was quickly making him forget that he was looking to upset his father’s sense of propriety. He’d spoken true earlier, if this was what Trovilla had to offer then he was certain to enjoy the place, even if it was far from the sea. He’d tired of what Paaragora had to offer ages past. The landlocked city that he was soon to call home might, finally, have given him something that would truly distract him. Keep him occupied. Especially if the captain of the royal guard used the rest of his considerable attributes as skillfully as he did his mouth.

Jasim arched again, delighted by the moist tongue currently fucking his navel with sloppy, if erotic, dedication, but his body stiffened when his mind finally caught up to his ears, realizing that the mewling sounds that filled the room were coming from him. He was whimpering like a bitch in heat, or, worse yet, a virgin being bedded for the first time. He was far from a novice, and he was certain that between the two of them he, not the purple haired terkarian, had the edge on experience. It was nearly impossible for it to be otherwise. And, as such, it was meant to be his show. He couldn’t let the other man undo him so easily. He just couldn’t.

Liam felt the boy beneath him try to move, pushing at him as though he would topple the captain and gain the upper hand, but his hazy mind mixed with his dominant instincts had him reaching for the other’s hands and pinning them above his head before Jasim had a chance to dislodge Liam from his current task. He was close. Close enough that he might have been ashamed of his lack of stamina had he been of a better mind, and he would not be distracted when relief was well within his grasp. Jasim struggled for a moment, halfheartedly, but he eventually fell still, giving Liam free reign to do as he pleased. And, if the blushing green flesh, rock hard and leaking clear fluid like a sieve, that bumped against his chin as Liam moved his mouth further down Jasim’s body was any indication, then the current situation was evidently enjoyable for them both. Who was Jasim to be allowed to argue?

Struggle for power over, however brief it had been, Liam and Jasim both began to move together to find their pleasure. After a bit of maneuvering their bodies locked together in a tight embrace, Jasim’s face buried against a strong shoulder, teeth worrying at muscle and tendon, pale skin growing darker as it was suckled and bitten, rocking together as their erections slid slickly against each other. Moans and pants filled the room, chests heaved as their actions became more erratic, more desperate, hands clawed at what they could reach, and within moments their groans became cries of completion as a hot wetness spurted into the space between their stomachs.

Liam and Jasim stayed intertwined for long moments after their orgasms gave them release, each fighting to regain breath and coherent thought, neither quite ready to let the other go. There was a comfort in the warmth shared between them, of the beating of another heart against the backdrop of their own, and neither Liam nor Jasim was in any hurry to give up that intimacy. But, the moment was soon lost, and they returned to being convenient strangers as they awkwardly disentangled limbs that were beginning to grow heavy with exhaustion and a sated sort of satisfaction.

Liam rolled to the side, careful of his superior weight, not wanting to crush his smaller partner, and lay looking at the boy beside him. His eyelids felt unnaturally heavy, exertion not quite able to push away the effects of the alcohol that he had indulged in earlier, but he was loath to allow himself to fall into the deep sleep that pulled at his consciousness. He felt that he should say something, but he didn’t know what to say. The lithe makara beside him still looked hauntingly familiar, but even in his current state he knew that the man that he saw was not the man that he remembered. Even if, for a moment, when they had clung to each other, rushing towards the edge together, he had seen green eyes instead of blue looking back at him.

Jasim let his hands run soothing over pale flesh until the man beside him at last lost his battle for consciousness and fell into a deep sleep. Then, and only then, did Jasim let his mask fall, giving up the façade of a playful vixen. He stared, unguarded and honest, at the daemon who lay slumbering at his side. He liked what he saw, found the man as attractive as he had anyone in a long while, but something about the man unnerved him. The night had not gone as planned. Liam had been drunk, he knew that, and Jasim had prepared himself for something rough and potentially dangerous, his pleasure laced with pain, knowing full well that men often took little care with their partners when they had the excuse of inebriation to hide behind. And a stranger, at that? He’d had no illusions that this daemon would care for his pleasure. He’d tempted fate, as he always did, but this time it seemed that Fate favored him. Liam had been almost… gentle. Something that he himself could not claim, as was evidenced by the rapidly blooming bruise that was forming at the point where Jasim had locked his teeth into Liam’s flesh to stifle his cries. It brought a smile to Jasim’s face. It was rare that he left a bed with the minority of the marks.

As Jasim climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping terkarian, searching for his clothes in a darkened room, he thought to himself that he had most certainly been correct before. Trovilla was definitely going to provide some interesting distractions. He realized, as he pulled the door to and made his way towards his own rooms, that he was suddenly more than ready to leave the sea behind.

TBC ...